Fruit catcher

ABSTRACT

A fruit catcher has a trolley with ground-engaging wheels to enable the catcher to be moved over the ground, and a pair of side-by-side catcher portions pivotally mounted on the trolley for lateral opening and closing movement to enable the trolley to be moved, when the catcher portions are in a laterally opened position, to position the catcher portions on opposite sides of a tree, whereby the catcher portions can subsequently be pivoted to a closed position in which the catcher portions surround the tree. Each catcher portion has a series of radial arms which are extendable and contractible and which carry a flexible catcher sheet portion. Each catcher portion also has an actuator connected to each radial arm thereof for extending and contracting the arms simultaneously and, when the arms are extended, the flexible sheet portions provide an annular catcher array surrounding the tree for catching fruit falling therefrom.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to fruit catchers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the past, there have been various proposals for fruit catchers whichare positionable under a tree to catch fruit falling therefrom. However,for one reason or another, such previously known fruit catchers have notproved to be particularly satisfactory.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide animproved fruit catcher of this kind.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, a fruit catcher has a trolley withground-engaging wheels to enable the catcher to be moved over theground, and a pair of side-by-side catcher portions pivotally mounted onthe trolley for lateral opening and closing movement to enable thetrolley to be moved, when the catcher portions are in the laterally openposition, to position the catcher portions on opposite sides of a tree,whereby the catcher portions can subsequently be pivoted to a closedposition in which the catcher portions surround the tree. Each catcherportion has a series of radial arms which are extendable andcontractible and which carry a flexible catcher sheet portion. Eachcatcher portion also has an actuator connected to each radial armthereof for extending and contracting the arms simultaneously. When thearms are extended, the flexible sheet portions provide an annularcatcher array surrounding the tree for catching fruit falling therefrom.

Each catcher arm may have a first arm portion fixedly secured to thecatcher portion, and a second arm portion extendable and retractablerelative to the first arm portion to extend and contract the arm, and afirst flexible elongated pulling element having opposite ends connectedto the second arm portion and passing around a rotatable spool securedin position on the first arm portion, and the actuator being operable torotate each spool of a catcher portion to simultaneously extend orretract the second arm portions relative to the first arm portions ofthe arms thereof, the flexible catcher sheet portions being secured toboth the first arm portions and the second arm portions of the arms ofthe catcher portion.

Each catcher arm may also have a third arm portion extendable andcontractible relative to the second arm portion, and a second flexibleelongated pulling element having opposite ends connected to the firstarm portion and passing around at least one guide on the second armportion, said second flexible pulling element also being secured to thethird arm portion, whereby extending and retracting movement of thesecond arm portion relative to the first arm portion also causes similarmovement of the third arm portion relative to the second arm portion,the flexible catcher sheet portion also being secured to the third armportion.

The actuator may include a rotatable articulated linkage extendingaround each catcher portion and upon which each spool of the catcherportion is mounted for rotation therewith.

The arms may extend radially in an upwardly inclined direction wherebyfruit falling on the flexible sheet portions carried thereby movesinwardly down the flexible sheet portions, the catcher also havingapertures through which the fruit subsequently falls for subsequentcollection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example,with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded view of a fruit catcher, with variousparts being omitted for clarity,

FIG. 2 is a sectional side view of one of the radially extendable armsof the fruit catcher of FIG. 1 in its fully extended position,

FIG. 3 is a similar view to FIG. 2 but showing the arm in its fullyretracted position,

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the arm taken along the line 4--4 of FIG.3,

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic top view (with the trolley omitted) of thecatcher being positioned around a tree with the radial arms and catchersheet in the fully contracted condition, and

FIG. 6 is a similar view showing the catcher in position around the treewith the radial arms and the catcher sheet fully extended.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, a fruit catcher has a trolley 12 with a mainframe 14 supported by a ground-engaging front wheel 16 which is manuallysteerable by a handle 18 and a pair of ground-engaging rear wheels 20. Apair of semi-circular catcher portions 22, 24 are pivotally mountedside-by-side on the trolley 12. For ease of explanation, only thecatcher portion 22 will be described in detail, and it will beunderstood that the catcher portion 24 is constructed and operates in asimilar manner to the catcher portion 22.

The catcher portion 22 has a frame 26 of generally semi-circular shapeand a semi-circular tree-receiving portion 28. The frame 26 carriesuprights 30 which support the radially outer ends of first arm portions34 of radially extendable and contractible arms 32 which extend radiallyoutwardly in a slightly upwardly inclined direction. The radially innerends of the first arm portions 34 are secured in any suitable manner tothe tree receiving portion 28 of the frame 26. The catcher portion 22also has an inner arcuate member 36 mounted on top the first armportions 34 a short distance radially outwardly of the tree-receivingportion 28. The inner arcuate member 36 has slots 38 between eachadjacent pair of first arm portions 34 for a purpose which will bedescribed later. Catcher portion 22 also has an outer arcuate member 40mounted on top of the first arm portions 34 at their radially outerends, again for a purpose which will be described later. As shown, theouter arcuate member 40 is actually formed by a series of arcuateportions 41.

One of the radially extendable and contractible arms 32 will now bedescribed with particular reference to FIGS. 2 to 4. The first armportion 34 is fixedly secured to the catcher portion 22 as previouslydescribed. A second arm portion 42 is slidably mounted within the firstarm portion 34, and a third arm portion 44 is slidably mounted withinthe second arm portion 42. A first flexible elongated pulling element inthe form of a first wire 46 has a first end secured to an anchor block48 at the rear end of the second arm portion 42. The first wire 46extends rearwardly from the anchor block 48 around a rotatable pulley 50mounted in the rear end of the first arm portion 34 and then extendsforwardly to pass around a rotatable spool 52 mounted between twomounting plates 54 which are attached to and extend downwardly from thefirst arm portion 34 at its front end. After passing around the spool52, the first wire 46 passes through the interior of the first armportion 34 to the anchor block 48 and to which the opposite end of thefirst wire 46 is secured. The spool 52 has helical grooves (not shown)in its surface, and the first wire 46 is seated in these grooves toensure that, when the spool 52 is rotated, the first wire 46 is moved inone direction or the other, as will be described later.

A second flexible elongated pulling element in the form of a second wire56 has its opposite ends secured to an anchor block 58 mounted on thebottom of the first arm portion 34 near the spool mounting plates 54.From the anchor block 58, the second wire 56 passes around a rotatablepulley 60 mounted in the rear end of the second arm portion 42, and thenextends forwardly through an anchor block 62 mounted in the rear end ofthe third arm portion 44. The second wire 56 is secured to the anchorblock 62 in a suitable manner, for example by a grub screw (not shown).The second wire 56 then extends forwardly from the anchor block 62 andpasses around a rotatable roller 64 mounted at the front end of thesecond arm portion 42 to then extend rearwardly back to the anchor block58.

The radially outer end of the second arm portion 42 carries an arcuatemember 66, and the radially outer end of the third arm portion 44carries an arcuate member 68 for a purpose which will be describedlater.

Each spool 52 is mounted on a short shaft 70, and the shafts 70 of eachpair of adjacent spools 52 are connected by an articulated linkage 72.The shaft 70 of the spool 52 nearest the front end of the trolley 12carries a manually operable handle 74 which, when rotated, rotates allthe spools 52 of the catcher portion 22 as a result of theirinterconnection by the articulated linkages 72. Movement of the firstwire 46 caused by rotation of the spools 52 in an anti-clockwisedirection, as indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 2, causes the second armportion 42 to be extended from the first arm portion 34. Such movementof the second arm portion 42 causes the second wire 56 to cause thethird arm portion 44 to be extended from the second arm portion 42. FIG.2 shows the arm portions 42, 44 in their fully extended positions.Similarly, when the spools 52 are then rotated by the handles 74 in theclockwise direction, as indicated by the arrow B in FIG. 3, the firstwire 46 retracts the second arm portion 42 back into the first armportion 34, and the second wire 56 retracts the third arm portion 44back into the second arm portion 42.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, the catcher portion 22 also has anarcuate catcher sheet 76. The radially inner edge of the catcher sheet76 is secured to the arcuate members 41 mounted on the radially outerends of the first arm portions 34, a radially medial portion of thecatcher sheet 76 is secured to the arcuate members 66 mounted on theradially outer ends of the second arm portions 42, and the radiallyouter edge of the catcher sheet 76 secured to the arcuate members 68mounted on the ends of the third arm portions 44.

The catcher portion 22 also has a semi-circular catcher sheet 78 with aradially inner edge secured to the top of the tree receiving portion 28,a radially medial portion secured to the arcuate members 36, and aradially outer edge secured to the arcuate members 41 on the radiallyouter ends of the first arm portions 34. The radially medial portion ofthe semi-circular catcher sheet 78 has arcuate slots 80 which arealigned with the slots 38 in the arcuate members 36.

It has been previously mentioned that the catcher portion 22 ispivotally mounted on the trolley 14. As shown in FIG. 1, a pivot pin 82extends through a front end portion 84 of the catcher portion 22 into afront end portion 86 of the trolley 14 adjacent the front wheel 16.Similarly, a pivot pin 88 extends through a front end portion 90 of thecatcher portion 24 into the front end portion 86 of the trolley 14. Thetwo catcher portions 22, 24 can be simultaneously pivoted in ahorizontal direction towards and away from each other by a singlepivoting rotatable handle 92 mounted in a block 94 carried by the frontend portion 86 of the trolley 14. The handle 92 has a threaded rearportion 96 which extends into a threaded aperture in an adjustment block98. Two links 103, 105 are pivotally connected at one end to theadjustment block 98 and are pivotally connected at their other ends tothe frames 26 of the catcher portions 22, 24 respectively.

In use, the catcher is manually moved to a position adjacent a fruittree, for example an olive tree. At this stage, the catcher portions 22,24 are adjacent each other, and the extendable arms 32 of each catcherportion 22, 24 are in the fully contracted position. The pivoting handle92 is rotated to cause the catcher portions 22, 24 to pivot about thepivot pins 82, 88 respectively to the position shown in FIG. 5. Thecatcher is then pushed rearwardly towards the olive tree 100 until thetree receiving portions 28 of each catcher portion 22, 24 are inopposite sides of the tree 100. It will be noted that the catcher frame14 has a rearwardly open recess 99 to receive the tree 100. The pivotinghandle 92 is then rotated in the opposite direction to bring the twocatcher portions 22, 24 together around the tree 100.

The handles 74 of each catcher portion 22, 24 are then rotated to fullyextend the arms 32 as indicated in FIG. 1, thereby extending the catchersheets 76 to their fullest extent as indicated in FIG. 6. The olives 102on the tree 100 are then picked in any suitable manner and allowed tofall onto the catcher, where they land on the catcher sheet 76. Sincethe arms 32 are upwardly inclined, as show in FIGS. 2 and 3, the olives102 roll down the outer catcher sheet 76 to the inner catcher sheet 78and through the slots 80 and 36 into an appropriate container 104 belowthe slots 80.

When all the olives have been picked from the tree, the handles 74 arerotated in the opposite direction from before to contract the arms 32,and the handle 92 is rotated to separate the two catcher portions 22,24, as indicated in FIG. 5, thereby enabling the catcher to be moved toanother location.

The advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to a personskilled in the art from the foregoing description of a preferredembodiment. Other advantages of the invention will also be readilyapparent, the scope of the invention being defined in the appendedclaims.

I claim:
 1. A fruit catcher having:a trolley with ground-engaging wheelsto enable the catcher to be moved over the ground, a pair ofside-by-side catcher portions pivotally mounted on the trolley forlateral opening and closing movement to enable the trolley to be moved,when the catcher portions are in a laterally opened position, toposition the catcher portions on opposite sides of a tree, whereby thecatcher portions can subsequently be pivoted to a closed position inwhich the catcher portions surround the tree, each catcher portionhaving a series of radial arms which are extendable and contractible andwhich carry a flexible catcher sheet portion, each catcher portion alsohaving an actuator for simultaneously extending and contracting eachradial arm thereof, and the flexible sheet portions, when the arms areextended, providing an annular catcher array surrounding the tree forcatching fruit falling therefrom.
 2. A fruit catcher according to claim1 wherein each catcher arm has a first arm portion fixedly secured tothe catcher portion, and a second arm portion extendable and retractablerelative to the first arm portion to extend and contract the arm, and afirst flexible elongated pulling element having opposite ends connectedto the second arm portion and passing around a rotatable spool securedin position on the first arm portion, andthe actuator being operable torotate each spool of a catcher portion to simultaneously extend orretract the second arm portions relative to the first arm portions ofthe arms thereof, the flexible catcher sheet portion being secured toboth the first arm portions and the second arm portions of the arms ofthe catcher portion.
 3. A fruit catcher according to claim 2 whereineach catcher arm also has a third arm portion extendable andcontractible relative to the second arm portion, and a second flexibleelongated pulling element having opposite ends connected to the firstarm portion and passing around at least one guide on the second armportion, said second flexible pulling element also being secured to thethird arm portion, whereby extending and retracting movement of thesecond arm portion relative to the first arm portion also causes similarmovement of the third arm portion relative to the second arm portion,the flexible catcher sheet portion also being secured to the third armportion.
 4. A fruit catcher according to claim 2 wherein the actuatorincludes a rotatable articulated linkage extending around each catcherportion and upon which each spool of the catcher portion is mounted forrotation therewith.
 5. A fruit catcher according to claim 1 wherein thearms extend radially in an upwardly inclined direction whereby fruitfalling on the flexible sheet portions carried thereby moves radiallyinwardly down the flexible sheet portions, the catcher also havingapertures through which the fruit subsequently falls for subsequentcollection.